Review of Poltergeist (2015) by Reysonpoint — 06 Jun 2015

The 2015 Reboot of Poltergeist is a great example of why some movies are better to be left alone. Especially when it’s a great one, such as the 1982 original horror classic, Poltergeist directed by Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and produced by the iconic Steven Spielberg (Jurassic Park, Jaws, Indian Jones).

The original film had great characters, great filmmaking, and most importantly great scares. Pretty much all the things the things that this reboot did not have.

Now, the first part of this film is the introduction of the Bowen family. Once they set the stage for the family, we quickly learned how the father, played by actor Sam Rockwell (The Way Way Back, Moon, Iron Man 2) was laid off from his old job, forcing the family to move to a new house. As the film develops we learned how both parents are unemployed and struggling financially. We have the mom played by actress Rosemarie Dewitt (Your Sister’s Sister, Promised Land) who is a frustrated writer and then we have her three kids. The oldest is Kendra Bowen played by Saxon Sharbino (Touch, Julia X) who plays the cliché rebellious daughter, the second character Griffin Bowen, is played by Kyle Catlett (The Following) who is the middle child that no one believes, and is always scared, and then we have the youngest, Madison Bowen played by Kennedi Clements (Jingle all the Way 2) who talks to her imaginary friend and eventually gets abducted by the evil ghosts. The acting in this film was one of the worst things of the entire film. I would even go as far as to say that Saxon Sharbino was one of the most annoying characters of the entire year. Every line that came out of her mouth, made me want to leave the theater. Then, we have Kennedi Clements who plays the little girl who gets abducted. She came across as annoying and unpleasant. This was definitely one character that was better in the original. Heather O’Rourke played the original character and she was also one of the best parts of the original film that gave the audience a charming performance.

Aside from the characters, let’s talk about the movie as a whole. This is a film that should’ve never gotten a reboot and what they did here just did not work. Director Gil Kenan (City of Ember, Monster House) tried to make the same film that Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper made in 1982, but instead he made a movie that was unable to scare or connect with the audience. The script for this film had countless problems and moments of me rolling my eyes due to how stupid it made everyone sound. Then, we have multiple iconic scenes that were so well done and that scared audiences in the original that this time around, simply lacked emotion, horror, and consisted of too much CGI.

In conclusion this brand new take on Poltergeist simply did not do anything for me. This was a movie that had me checking my watch over and over and wanting the film to be over. In my eyes the original Poltergeist is the only Poltergeist. This is simply a forgettable flick and with that said, this is one of the worst movies so far, of the year.

Final Score: 3.